New Endowment Honors a Love of UNH Football

New Endowment Honors a Love of UNH Football

New Endowment Honors A Love of UNH Football

Jared Allison ’15 and Donna Brownell

Jared Allison Named First David M. Paul Family football Scholarship Recipient

The most exciting moment of Jared Allison’s young Wildcat football career came on September 15, when the wide receiver scored his first college touchdown on a broken play. For the red-shirt freshman from Cliffwood, New Jersey, it was doubly meaningful to record the score at home during the team’s 43–10 victory over Central Connecticut State.

“It really meant a lot to me last year to put on my UNH game uniform for the first time and walk onto the University of Toledo field as a member of the team,” Allison says. “But it means even more to know you’re having an impact as a player.”

The first recipient of the endowed David M. Paul Family football scholarship, Allison is an academic sophomore majoring in business administration. Like all UNH student-athletes, he faces the challenge of balancing athletics and academics—during the season, he spends a significant amount of time every week on football between strength training, practices, film study, and games—and is honored that his hard work is being recognized.

“Receiving this scholarship from the Paul and Brownell family means a lot to me,” Alison says. “Whenever someone takes the time and resources to give to others who are in need, it’s a blessing. I received all B’s in the spring semester of my freshman year, and while that might not seem like a big deal to some, for me it was a huge challenge being away from home for the first time and learning to juggle the responsibilities of classes and practice. I’ve worked hard, and I’m proud that other people have seen that in me.”

David M. Paul wasn’t a UNH alumnus. But when the successful businessman and engineer retired to New Hampshire many years ago, he developed a great affinity for the University—a place his daughter, Donna Brownell, worked, and his grandson, Tony Brownell ’13, attended—and particularly its sports teams. When Paul died last May at the age of 83, he left behind the David M. Paul Family Foundation, the assets of which were to be used for charitable, literary, scientific, educational, and religious purposes. Charged with finding causes that would reflect and honor her father’s interests, his daughter knew at once that an athletic endowment at UNH would be on the list.

This spring, Brownell and her family established the David M. Paul Family Scholarship Fund to support a member of the UNH football team, with preference given to a student-athlete enrolled in the business school. In September, the fund awarded its first scholarship, to Jared Allison ’15, a wide receiver from Cliffwood, New Jersey, majoring in business administration. (see sidebar)

Brownell, who describes her late father as a “frugal Yankee and the consummate planner,” says creating endowed funds was a perfect fit for Paul’s desire to invest and plan for the future—as well as her own family’s desire to honor in perpetuity a man they loved and admired.

“Since my father had provided financial support for all of his grandchildren to attend college, it made sense to us to help others through scholarship support,” she explains. As a UNH parent and a University employee, Brownell also had a very special perspective on the difference her family’s gift could make at this time.

“Given the magnitude of the state budget cuts, I know how critical donor support is to the institution, and I’m excited that my family was able to give in a way that provides ongoing support in Dad’s memory,” she says. In addition to the UNH gift, the Paul Family Foundation established the David M. Paul ’52 Scholarship Endowment at Norwich University, Paul’s alma mater, and has made contributions to other universities with significance to the family.

Brownell describes her father as a lifelong sports fan who held season tickets to West Point football, the closest college to their New York State home. She thinks he would be as thrilled as she is by the choice of Allison as the first Paul Family Fund scholarship recipient.

“Jared’s an awesome young man, and we’re very excited to watch him and his Wildcat teammates compete this season,” she says. “I’m sure Dad is pleased, too, and is watching us all!”